Unwrapped
by ideasofmany
Summary: Takes place at the end of season 2 after Ulysses. A seasonal Solstice story.
1. Chapter 1

**Unwrapped**

**Disclaimer: Xena..hurr.. not mine.. *cries***

**Summary: Takes place at the end of season 3 after Ulysses. A seasonal Solstice story :) A tradition I want to start for myself XD.**

A drift of snow swirled about two women walking side by side on a mountainside. Heavily under wraps, it was still utterly cold and when the wind blew, they felt the chill seeping into their bones making them ache. The blond woman's teeth chattered with each step she took, and her staff began to shake with her shivering.

"Xena. A-a-a-a-s much fun as it is to see what it feels like to be a glacier, tell me again why we have to go down the side of a mountain to the coast in the middle of winter." the younger woman questioned, turning to her friend.

"Well it's simple really Gabrielle. Since we won't make it home on time, I thought maybe I could provide you with something slightly comparable." the brunette answered, the low timbers of her voice shaky from the cold. Looking at her friend, the shorter woman stopped in her tracks in a state of incredulity.

"How exactly would Santorini in the middle of winter bring the spirit of solstice to my step? The coast on a summer day would sound refreshing, but an island we had to take a boat to; in the middle of winter, to walk down a slope to the coast? A dip in ice cold waters is the last thing I would want to do right now. Do I look like a polar bear?"

"Oh ye of little faith. Quit complaining. When have I ever steered you wrong." Xena scolded, her own teeth starting a rattle of their own. Adjusting her winter coat slightly, attempting to shut out the wind, she let out a heavy sigh, starting to question her own idea. "There should be a cabin around here soon. When we get there, we can leave our bags there."

"But Xena, is it wise to leave our things unattended? I would have figured that last time our rations got stolen would have taught us a thing or two about leaving our things behind, even just for a moment."

"Gabrielle, look around. Does it look like we have any other people to worry about?" Xena responded, motioning to the empty mountainside and the body of water in the distance.

"I don't know Xenaaaaaa," the bard exaggerated her friend's name, "perhaps a former warlord intent on torturing her friend might be a few paces ahead of us."

"Ha-ha-ha," Xena mimicked a forced laugh and bumped the blond with her shoulder. "Cheer up. You know, you aren't very much in a Solstice spirit. Aren't you eager to see what I got for you this year?" the warrior intoned, her smile could melt the snow off the younger woman's heart. At the same time however, Gabrielle seeing Xena so giddy with excitement while she felt miserable, overshadowed her glee.

"Excuse me for not being an eager beaver. The last time I was on a snowy mountainside, I was lugging your dead body up Mount Nestos."

Xena winced. She had forgotten that Gabrielle had recently had that ordeal before she planned everything. "I promise, It's just a little more."

The cabin came into view and Xena perked up, pointing it out to her companion. "There it is!"

Taking off into a sprint, Xena left Gabrielle behind.

"Oh! Great! A tiny cabin, on a windy mountainside! Where have you been all my life! Now I can die a happy woman." Gabrielle grumbled sarcastically.

"I heard that!" Xena yelled back at her.

Gabrielle increased her stride and soon reached the cabin as well. Entering the open door Xena had gone through, she couldn't help but wince at it's contents. Nothing. Well, maybe a wooden bucket.

"Set your stuff right there, and leave your coat too. Once we round this bend behind the cabin, you'll see what it is I've been wanting to show you."

The grin on Xena's face instantly melted Gabrielle's dour face. It was too infectious to see the childlike happiness on her normally stoic friend's face. It was hard to believe that just a few moons ago, she had lost her. Since her coming back though, it had been a crazy spiral of emotions. After Xena had returned, they were all over each other. That goodbye kiss that Xena had given in limbo sparked a slew of feelings and stirrings.

Once Xena was back in the flesh, they had crossed lines of friendship that they never expected to. A comforting embraced turned into a night of unfettered passion. For Xena, perhaps it was the need to feel flesh underneath her fingertips and the joys of mortality, but for Gabrielle it was so much more. The blond was trying so hard to find the courage to tell her that she loved her, but her heart was broken when they had run into Ulysses. She swallowed up the feelings and hid them, not wanting to hold Xena back. Although Xena was with her now, she couldn't help but feel the heartbreak every time she remembered Xena's words on the ship. "Did you say love?" Her own sentence echoed in her mind. It would have been a welcome sentence, had it not been about Ulysses. From that point on, she receded and avoided Xena's advances, even after they had left Ithaca. She felt like second fiddle, but she hadn't told Xena that. She didn't want to seem a naive woman that fell in love so easily to the warrior princess; a woman of the world. She shook the thought out of her mind and returned to the present. She let out a long breath, sending a cloud up into the air.

"Xena. I'm warning you. This better be worth it. Or you'll be cooking for yourself for the next few days."

"Oh it'll be worth it! Trust me. If you don't like it, I'll owe you ten nights of massages and I'll even let you braid my hair." Xena chuckled. "I'll race ya there." She bounced up and bounded out the door they had just came in.

Rolling her eyes, the blond begrudgingly dropped her bag to the ground of the sparse cabin. Looking around and rolling her head over her shoulders, hearing a crack, she resigned herself to the brunette's surprise. She removed her coat and let out a string of curses to the wind about the insanity of going out without a coat. Gabrielle followed the tracks around the corner of the mountain lazily. Each step accompanied a mutter under her breath. She finally rounded the corner and her gaze was met by a beautiful sight.

The coast was as expected, but a pleasant surprise accompanied the blue and greens of the crystal clear water and copper rock and mud at the bottom.

"Surprise!" Xena smiled, holding out her hands displaying the radiance of the secret before her.

A mist of steam formed curly lines on the surface of the water. Gabrielle's jaw dropped in response and she immediately felt excitement bubble up.

"How?.." The bard stuttered with wide eyes.

"These islands, they're volcanic." Xena grinned.

Gabrielle's brows furrowed and concern touched her face. "Volcanic? As in volcano?" She spoke fearfully.

"Don't worry, they're dormant. That means they've not been active. When it was, it made these islands. Nothing to fear now, I promise. Come here." Xena called, motioning for the blond to come next to her, by the shore.

She pointed to the shore. "There and there.. the hot springs flow into this beach, making the water a nice warm treat."

The awe on her friend's face made her ecstatic. It was nice to make Gabrielle happy.

Shyly she reached for the blond. "Happy Solstice Gabrielle! Much better than a wooden lamb don't you think?"

When her fingertips met her friend's, a jolt of electricity seemed to tickle her. As humid as the area they were in, little zaps of static would be highly unlikely. Xena thoughtfully reveled in the phenomenon. Pulling the bard to her, she embraced her at the waist, so that they were a finger's breadth away. She breathed in the scent of Gabrielle, a mixture of mint, lemon, and her. Her heart swelled and she prepared to give Gabrielle the second part of her gift.

**To be continued in Chapter 2**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Give A Little Bit**

They could feel the drifting heat from the water beginning to bathe their skin. Their intertwined embrace also added to the warmth.

"Close your eyes Gabrielle." Xena requested.

As amazed at the little treat her friend had garnered her, Gabrielle was still wary. "What? Why?" she chuckled.

"Because. I've got something else for you." Xena replied, hoping the bard would humor her.

Chuckling, Gabrielle decided to give in. Shutting her eyes, she held out her hand, with a smirk she said, "Alright, give it to me."

For a moment she was lost in confusion, as nothing was placed in her hand, but she could hear Xena moving about rustling her armor and leather. Some squeaks and clinks filled the air.

"Give me a second, I just-" Xena explained.

Gabrielle could hear some fussing and she strained to make out what the warrior princess was doing. "What are you doing Xena?"

"Okay. I got it. Ha!" Xena exclaimed.

"Got what? Can I open my eyes now?" Gabrielle asked, tilting her head in the direction of Xena's voice.

"Yes! Open your eyes!" Xena excitedly answered.

Gabrielle opened them, as the blur of her lids revealed the figure in front of her in clarity, she rubbed her eyes to make sure she was seeing right. In front of her was Xena, and around her chest was a yellow ribbon criss crossing across her bustline and ending in a very large bow.

Gabrielle muffled a bit of laughter, but couldn't help herself as a loud guffaw escaped. "Xena! You've outdone yourself!" Gabrielle smiled.

"Now you've got to unwrap it!" Xena said, as she presented a puffed out chest before the bard.

"You are ridiculous, you know that right?" Gabrielle responded, batting the ribbon upon Xena's chest, making it flop.

"They don't look so dangerous now, do they?" the brunette stated, beaming proudly.

Crow's feet appeared at the bard's eyes and at the edges of her mouth. It really made her smile to see Xena making fun of herself. She had a feeling her resolve to avoid Xena's advances would be slack on this special day.

At the back of her mind, however, a thought popped in. She remembered that once again in their busyness, she realized she had forgotten to get anything for Xena.

"Oh Hades!" Gabrielle cursed under her breath. She swung a fist and stomped her feet at her misstep. A frown overshadowed her visage.

Xena mimicked the frown, looking down at herself in confusion and back to Gabrielle.

"What? What's wrong?" the brunette asked, concerned.

"I did it again."

"Did what?"

"I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"I forgot to get a present for you."

"Gabrielle." Xena began, the R in her pronunciation of her friend's name was purposefully drawn out and rolled across her tongue.

"Like I said the last time. You are a gift to me. Now let me unwrap you!" Xena intoned eagerly.

"Don't you dare!" Gabrielle responded playfully.

An idea popped into her head and she took advantage of it. Before Ulysses, she had jotted down an inspired poem that dripped from her quill as she sat watching Xena sleep. As heartbroken as she was over Ulysses, right now she didn't care. She wasn't going to come up empty handed for the one person who meant everything to her; not again.

"Hold that thought!" the blond commented, she turned hurriedly back in the direction of the cabin, leaving Xena with furrowed brows and her thought held patiently. After a few minutes, the out of breath bard was back at the shore with a torn scroll.

"Happy Solstice Xena!" the blond hurriedly pushed the work of her writing to the warrior's hands.

Xena winced as she really hated reading about her feats. As she set her eyes on the words, she was relieved to find that it wasn't a tale of her feats. It was prose of love, she wasn't too keen on sappy love poems, but since Gabrielle wrote it, she'd give it a try. Unfurling the curled scroll, Xena began to read.

_Hold fast to me love, for there are those that will pull,_

_grabbing and twisting till we are no longer whole._

_I'll shield you from them, no matter the cost,_

_you will always be worth whatever is lost._

_Come closer, I will block and repel the waves of guilt,_

_I'll guide and console you in the prison that you built._

_I'll lift you out of the anger you have in yourself,_

_that cripples your happiness and hazards your health._

_I'll offer you a safe house where ever you go._

_No matter where you are, there will I go,_

_Someone by your side, in your pain and glee._

_I will do anything that you would ask of me._

_Reach out to me, I am here for you dear,_

_Ignore the darkness in yourself that you fear._

_Silence it with the love in my eyes,_

_they always reflect the depth of my sighs._

_You won't let me in as far as I'd go,_

_are you deathly afraid of love's undertow?_

_I'll gladly go with you, drown in it's pull,_

_as long as I'm with you, I'd submit to the cull._

_Together we can drown in our shared fate._

_For I know it is you that is my soul mate._

Gabrielle fidgeted nervously, wondering if she had made the right decision of giving it to Xena now. She had planned on trashing the thing a couple of times. Had she acted rashly? Perhaps. It was too late, what was done was done. The silence while Xena read was torturous. She shifted from foot to foot waiting anxiously. Finally the silence was interrupted.

"It's beautiful you know." A lump in Xena's throat, made her voice falter. She cleared her throat, wanting to Gabrielle to hear her.

"It is beautiful. Like you." Xena insisted, lifting a hand to the face that had now begun to look downward.

She lifted the blond's chin, making her look into her eyes as she said the next words. "I don't deserve you, you know?" She smiled nervously. "You saw me as who I wanted to be. You came into my life, knocking down every wall I constructed around me. Like you were some kind of force of nature. I'd build them back up, and you'd crash right through them again."

The blond looked away, a bit ashamed of Xena's account of their interactions.

"Hey, it's not a bad thing believe me. I just.." Xena sighed, hesitating and trying to fix her words, wanting to make them right instead of repeating the sadness that seemed to inhabit Gabrielle's eyes. "I want more than me for you." Xena spoke slowly and pointedly.

"And if it's you I want?" Gabrielle turned her eyes on the raven haired woman defiantly.

Xena hesitated for a bit, but answered equally defiant, "Especially if it is me you want."

"I want you, and nothing is ever going to change that. Not this spring, not the fates, not your death. What's so wrong Xena? If I choose to be with you, why won't you let me in?"

**To be continued in Chapter 3**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Forget it**

Gabrielle hesitated for a moment. Her eyes threatened with tears, but she sniffed and dislodged them forcefully. Her countenance changed from resigned to determined.

"Damn it all to hades Xena! You know what. I don't care what you say. I've made my choice. Now, suffer the consequences!" She smiled through her tears. "You can deny it all you want. But I choose you, whether you like it or not. Now you can either go with it, or you can pretend this is all just sex to you, but it's not. You know it, and I know it. Whether you think you deserve me or not, you have me. You can either keep playing that childish game of yours and keep breaking my heart, this time knowingly, or you can humor me. Please say you'll humor me." Her eyes pleaded with the sky irises, that were avoiding her gaze.

Gabrielle eyed the comical ribbon across the warrior's bust. She pulled at the edge of the ribbon, forcefully tugging it and unraveling the bow. She watched as the lace fell to the sand. Xena's chest rose, filled with a deep breath, and a quiet resignation. The symbolism of the bard untying her knot making her decision.

"Yes. Okay fine. I give. For you."Xena smiled softly.

Gabrielle squealed in delight, practically tackling Xena into an embrace.

"You'll see. You'll come to your senses and see that I'm right. It's only a matter of time." the younger woman remarked confidently.

Xena couldn't help but feel her heart lifting. The blond had so much faith in them, and Xena couldn't help but share it. She wanted to be wrong, perhaps she could be someone Gabrielle could deserve. Only time would tell, but the bard was right. Breaking her heart with repeats of Ulysses weren't something she'd wanted to do, no matter how well meaning she thought it would come out in the end.

"Well, guess I'll have to inspect the goods." Xena chimed, faux seriousness coating her words.

The bard laughed heartily, glad to see love shining through the veiled eyes.

"You break it. You buy it." Gabrielle replied, clutching one of Xena's bracer and sliding it off gracefully. Quietly and efficiently, she rid the warrior of her armor.

"I'm shocked. Surely you didn't learn that at the academy." Xena feigned surprise.

"Oh shut up Xena." Gabrielle clucked and hushed her with a kiss, and Xena in her mischief lifted Gabrielle off the sand and carried her; amidst kiss and walked into the hot water. She ignored the sting of the heat on her skin as soon Gabrielle was also prickled by the heat on her feet causing her to shriek.

"Xena!"

Xena grinned evilly. "What's that you say? Shhh.. Fish don't talk, they swim. Can I borrow your bra?" Xena asked.

"What?"Gabrielle protested as Xena began to unlace her top, tickling the bard with her ice cold hands.

"You are cruel." Gabrielle complained.

"I am, but you still love me. I'm starting to doubt your sanity my dear." Xena answered, continuing the unwrapping of her present.

"Hey, hey, hey! Throw my top onto the sand, if it gets in this heat it'll shrink."

Xena's brow raised in it's legendary lopsidedness and Gabrielle soon regretted her words.

"Happy Solstice to me!" Xena remarked as she immersed both their bodies into the steaming water.

Gabrielle laughed loudly as she knew Xena's leathers would fall victim as well. "Xena! Your leathers will too!" Gabrielle exclaimed through a fit of laughter.

"Oh well, I don't plan on wearing much clothes for a few days. Perhaps I can wear you on me tonight." She remarked matter of factly.

"That's a good possibility." the blond answered with her voice deepened and lust ridden. "If you're lucky, I'll let you wear me out."

"Indeed"

"Indeed."

Their gazes locked and the taller woman let her down slowly from her embrace in the water and let her feet touch the mud floor.

"I look forward to it. Happy Solstice Gabrielle." She answered, her voice dripping in arousal as her hands began to explore a landscape visited once before.

This time however, she decided she wouldn't hold back her heart, and though she didn't tell her, Gabrielle knew.

**The End**

Author's Note: Happy Holidays everyone!


End file.
